Dealing with Vanillin Content

[snappyllama]

I've about to soap with NG's Hippy Christmas. It has 1.75% Vanillin Content. I know it will discolor to a light brown in CP if left alone. For the first time, I do not want to embrace the brown... I want to fight it. :twisted:

Vanilla stabilizer is on order, but I've heard mixed things about stabilizer in CP so I'm reluctant to wait on it (and generally an impatient person).

Can I hit it with enough TD to make/keep it white? I was thinking I've got a pinky-red that could brown-up a bit and not look terrible.

What do y'all do?

 

[IrishLass]

For what it's worth, one of my fragrances from WSP (Sugared Spruce) has a vanillin content of 1.5%, not too far off from yours. Without TD, it will discolor to a medium tan for me, but when I use TD at a rate of 1 tsp. ppo, it stays nice and creamy off-white.

Here is a batch of Sugared Spruce that I made last year. The light creamy part is colored with 1/2 tsp. TD per 1 1/2 cups of soap batter (which is the equivalent of 1 tsp. ppo in my batch). The light greyish part was colored with 1/4 tsp. silver mica and 1/4 tsp. diamond dust mica and 1/2 tsp. pearlizer to 1 1/2 cup soap batter. I still have some bars left of this batch and the colors have remained true. Although the creamy parts look a little yellowish in the pic, they are less yellow and more creamy/off-white in real life.


Although I can't be certain since I've never worked with your particular FO, it's very possible that with enough TD you may be able to get a similar result as the one I get with Sugared Spruce.

IrishLass

 

[snappyllama]

Thanks Irishlass! That is lovely soap. I was hoping I might get the same type of result that you got with TD and micas since my FO has a pretty small percentage of vanillin. Thanks so much!

 

[Obsidian]

I've only use stabilizer once and that was with a FO that had 1% vanillin. I did use TD and it stayed nice and white for about 3 months before it started slowly turning to a pale butterscotch. Its been a few months and its still white based but the butterscotch has tinted the entire surface. It washes away with one use but after a few days of drying, the yellow starts to come back.

 

[shunt2011]

I've had mixed result with vanilla stabilizer. Sometimes it works well sometimes it doesn't. However, if it's a lower percentage of vanilla and I use the stabilizer with quite a bit of TD it does seem to work longer term.

 

[snappyllama]

Thanks for the info - I was mainly worried about Hippy Christmas looking good in the mold and slowly discoloring over time which I'd read on here is what stabilizers tend to do in CP. I think I'll just leave unscented batter portion accented with white and color the rest. Even hippies don't want a brown Christmas, man.